Update: Official Statement Regarding New Home & BFA Funding

Wow! What an overwhelming morning here at KEXP. Thank you for being part of it.

Earlier today we let you know that KEXP’s New Home at Seattle Center had been removed from the Senate’s Capital Budget for Building for the Arts (BFA) support, and asked you to help advocate to your senators immediately.

You took action right away sending emails and making phone calls, tweeting and texting and encouraging your neighbors to do the same. It was overwhelmingly heartwarming and deeply appreciated.

The Ways and Means Executive Session just concluded. Unfortunately, full funding for KEXP’s New Home in the Capital Budget was not restored. However, an amendment to fund $1 million (53% of the original amount) for KEXP’s New Home did pass.

The Senate budget will now move to the floor, and then the House and Senate versions will need to be reconciled before moving on to the Governor for his signature. That means there will be more opportunities for your voice to be heard, and more opportunities for us to restore the recommendations made through the Building for the Arts peer-reviewed competitive process.

With your help, we remain hopeful that full funding for all 14 BFA ranked arts organizations can be restored. In the meantime, please join us in thanking the senators you contacted. Let them know that you are grateful to them for listening to your concerns, respecting the work of the BFA panel, and continuing to enrich our vibrant Arts Community with their vote today.

We will continue to keep you posted as the budget moves through the State Legislature and, of course, on the construction progress of the New Home. We have more work to do. Stay tuned.

KEXP is listener powered. I have been supporting them since the KCMU days. I do not think it is appropriate to force the taxpayers of WA to fund KEXP. Are they all listeners? What stake would they have in KEXP? Would they be represented on the board? Could they influence what music gets (or doesn’t get) played? I say keep KEXP listener funded and don’t get entangled in politics.

I have personally donated thousands of my own dollars to support this station and this new home. There is simply nothing like the programming KEXP offers the community locally and globally it is unique, authentic, grassroots, and deserves this financial support. I am all in and I want my senators to be too!

I’m out in NYC but grew up in Bellevue and am a massive supporter of KEXP’s! All Senators have been emailed and all have also been called! I heard from Senator Keiser’s office that they have had over 200 calls… So the message is being HEARD! :D

Thanks for contacting me. I, along with many of my colleagues, were shocked and baffled by what happened which we did not learn about till yesterday ourselves. I can’t recall this ever happening before, which is directly counter to the norm of funding the projects down the vetted and ranked list till the funding runs out. The advantage of having this process is it avoids legislative cherry picking. And it’s especially surprising KEXP was deleted as it is number two on the list.

I am offering an amendment to restore the funding for KEXP and another to fund the entire BFA list. The executive session begins at noon.